Looking After Endurance Horses

Horseandhound.co.uk - Full Article

Elizabeth Peplow

The sport of endurance riding looks set to reap the rewards of an increasingly high-tech approach to horse care.

As the sport benefits from the appliance of science, there will be lessons for all.

But, says Rod Fisher, who has served as British endurance team vet since 1988, both riders and officials can still do more to get the basics right. Rod stresses that more could be done to improve care before, during and after rides.

"I would like to see people monitoring their horses more closely. It is a question of seeing how receptive the horse is, how willing it is to go on and how much it isdrinking.

"Often, riders who know their horses well can spot something is not right before the vets. Some people see a problem and try to pretend it is not there in the hope that it goes away. But if you address difficulties early, they are always easier to treat."

He also stresses the benefit of using heart monitors during training and for competitions. Riders who train themselves to pick up even slight changes to their horse's demeanour before rides, he says, stand a better chanceof preventing problems taking their toll in competition.

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